UFO? 'Strange lights' filmed in the sky over Tyneside

Mysterious phenomenon lights up sky in Gateshead

Dazzling lights that appear to change colour have been filmed in the night sky above Felling, Tyneside.

Paul Dobson captured the scene at around 12.45am on Tuesday morning.

Speaking to the Chronicle Live, he said: "I couldn't believe it. Everywhere was pitch black except for this area of lights.

"I woke my partner up and she couldn't believe it either - they were absolutely beautiful.

"I got my camera out and I was filming when all of a sudden the colour change from turquoise to green - it was unbelievable.

"I haven't got a clue what it was and I'm hoping someone else also saw them and does know what they were."

According to the Mirror, the lights are believed to be what is known as "noctilucent" or "night clouds", which form the edge of a polar cloud layer in the earth's upper atmosphere.

Noctilucent roughly means night shining in Latin.

They are made of crystals of water ice and are most commonly observed in the summer months at latitudes between 50° and 70° north and south of the equator. They can only be observed when the Sun is below the horizon.

They are normally too faint to be seen, and are visible only when illuminated by sunlight from below the horizon while the lower layers of the atmosphere are in the Earth's shadow.

Noctilucent clouds are not fully understood and are a recently discovered meteorological phenomenon; there is no record of their observation before 1885.